Besides of not being cardboard, what's the difference from the Daydream HMD & Controller?

I think one of the things which will define if the people jump to buy a Pixel phone with the Daydream HMD is what is new about it.

One obvious thing is the Cardboard substitution, the new "case" for the phone looks better and have some hidden cards, the extra controller is also a plus, but I did not find info about any other aspect is new with the Daydream hardware, so anyone?

One thing I noticed is the control is something huge, some unknown brands were working in some controllers, but one limitation is the amount of devices you can connect at the same time to a phone, I don't know if the new Bluetooth protocols are able to handle multiple devices, but if so, I think if it's possible to have two controller will be something amazing.

Another point, will Daydream make a standard for the Android VR devices?

And a last question, how the Daydream (Hardware and software) will handle AR?

So for those developers we have the placer of have here as partners, what do you know about it?

GREAT questions! I don't have all the answers but I do know some things. Yes Daydream is a "standard" and other phone manufacturers can spec phones to support it, plus it can probably be cloned. I don't believe it's in any way supportive of AR, but I could be wrong, however for the most part I believe your phone would block your view of what's in front of you thus making it NOT AR. I'm hearing that partner support is GREAT, youtube, hulu and Netflix for example are all already on board.

I think there was a project to add and external front camera to the Rift, maybe the CV2 will have that camera but if the Google Daydream is able to add more hardware and make it a little bit more modular could be a great option, a pain in the arse for developers but who cares...

I'm already watching the earbuds for the Oculus Rift, I guess similar options will come for the Daydream.

I'm most interested in checking this thing out with the pixel phone. It's my first foray into vr and I'm not sure what to expect. I figure it'll be cool for some games and maybe video. Anything else I should know?

I think the big difference between Daydream and Google Cardboard is the Daydream platform and all the content they are preparing for it. The limitation of google cardboard was not just its physical build, but that its software library and VR experience could in no way match that of something like the Samsung Gear VR, and so this Daydream platform, and its incorporation of the controller (which IMO is way better means of control than the touchpad on the Samsung headset) is what will set it apart from the mobile VR competition. Especially considering this is google we are talking about, there is no doubt the amount of experiences in Daydream will be huge over time.